Posts Tagged ‘Chris Bosh’

September 28, 2016 · 6:43 PM ET

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — The wait is finally over.

The 2016-17 NBA season is upon us, complete with the headlines from training camps around the league and drama in places like Miami, Oklahoma City, Cleveland and Oakland, all before a single game (preseason or otherwise) has been played.

— Pat Riley says Chris Bosh‘s Heat career is “probably over,” bringing an official end to the Heat’s celebrated Big 3 era in crushing fashion.

— Russell Westbrook says he hasn’t spoken to Kevin Durant since his former Thunder teammate bolted for Golden State in free agency, signaling that perhaps they were never as close as we were led to believe.

— LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and the Cavaliers are already dealing with great (repeat) expectations from fans and pundits alike.

— Draymond Green is already doing his best to temper similar expectations in the Bay Area, now that the Warriors boast two KIA MVPs (Durant and Stephen Curry) on the same roster.

And all this came after Kevin Garnett announced his retirement after 21 seasons, cementing the Hall of Fame Class of 2021 (KG, Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan will all be eligible) as one of the best in history.

September 27, 2016 · 10:23 AM ET

No. 1:Miami moves on from Bosh — Pat Riley, Miami Heat president, went so far as to mention Magic Johnson‘s stunning HIV diagnosis. That’s how seriously and emotionally Riley and his organization were reacting to what they consider to be the end of Chris Bosh‘s NBA career in south Florida. The latest chapter in Bosh’s ongoing health concerns, stemming from blood clots that have snuffed the second halves of his past two seasons, came Monday as Riley confirmed the Heat no longer are open to bringing the All-Star power forward back. Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel had the details:

President Pat Riley said Monday that the team views Chris Bosh’s career with the team as over, that the team no longer is working toward his return.

“We are not,” Riley said in his office at AmericanAirlines Arena. “I think Chris is still open-minded. But we are not working toward his return.

“We feel that, based on the last exam, that his Heat career is probably over.”

Asked if he felt Bosh’s NBA career was over, as well, Riley said, “that’s up to him.”

Bosh has been sidelined for the second half of each of the past two seasons due blood clots, recently failing the Heat’s preseason physical.

“It’s pretty definitive from us, in our standpoint, that this is probably going to be a time where we really have to step back,” Riley said

“His health, playing and economics — it’s been health, health, health,” Riley said before the start of the team’s media day at AmericanAirlines Arena. “Whatever the cap ramifications are, they are there, but we never ever thought about that.”

Of going forward, Riley said, “This one is cloudy, the environment, because of the C.B. situation, and we have to deal with that.”

The Heat would receive salary-cap relief going forward on Feb. 9 if Bosh is ruled medically unable to play by an NBA specialist.

…

Bosh said over the weekend he planned to continue his comeback attempt, posting on Twitter, “Setbacks may happen, but my intentions remain the same. Thank you all for the warm wishes and support.”

He then on Monday released the latest chapter of the video series chronicling his comeback attempt on the Uninterrupted digital-media platform.

“I put in all the work, so let’s see where I’m at,” Bosh said in the piece, which apparently was completed before his failed Heat physical. “I’m still hoping to have my moment.”

Coach Erik Spoelstra said the situation with Bosh has been emotionally grueling.

“I love C.B. dearly,” he said. “It was tough to watch C.B. and his family go through this the last couple of years. Your heart just goes out to him.”

“That doesn’t stop me from wanting to share my creative side with you guys and hoping that you want to come along on the journey with me,” he said of his failed physical in his video post. “So, just because the journey has ups and downs doesn’t mean that I will stop sharing with you guys. So I will just continue to share, despite what’s going on.

“Little setbacks happen, but that doesn’t change my intentions and what I want accomplish. So, I hope you continue to watch. I hope you continue to really just take in my journey and just come along with me, with the ups and the downs. So it’s a down moment right now, but everything’s going to be all right.”

With that, Bosh went ahead with the online release of the second chapter of his documentary “Rebuilt” that is featured on the LeBron James-operated digital outlet Uninterrupted, a chapter titled “Renewal.”

Among the references in Bosh’s documentaries have been ones to former Florida Panthers forward Tomas Fleischmann, who has pushed past similar issues with blood clotting to return to the NHL. On Friday, however, Fleischmann failed his physical amid a tryout with the Minnesota Wild, leaving his career in doubt, as well.

Bosh’s latest documentary installment was updated to include the statement, “On the eve of the 2016-17 season, the Miami Heat have not cleared Chris to play. It is Chris’ hope that he can return to playing basketball.”

September 24, 2016 · 9:24 AM ET

NEWS OF THE MORNING

No. 1:Is Garnett completely gone from Wolves? — He announced his retirement Friday after 21 years in the NBA, fitting since that was his uniform number, and KevinGarnett will be forever linked to the Wolves perhaps more than the Celtics. But what’s in his next chapter? There was always scuttlebutt about Garnett becoming a part-owner of the Wolves but that doesn’t appear likely. And the coaching position is filled. Maybe Garnett should cut the cord completely if he’s not involved in ownership, so says Jim Souhan of the Star Tribune…

It was such a nice story, evoking nostalgia and promise in the same swoop of the pen.

Flip Saunders employed all of his charm to woo Kevin Garnett back to Minnesota, offering trunks of money, a voice at practice, a place in the starting lineup and a future in franchise decision-making.

When the Minnesota Timberwolves were desperate for validation and credibility, Flip’s seduction of the greatest player in franchise history made sense. Then everything changed.

Flip passed away, leaving Garnett without his greatest champion and intermediary in the organization.

Garnett played a career-low 15 minutes a game in a career-low 38 games, undermining his ability to lead by example on the court.

In the old Wolves world order, every former employee of any pedigree had a virtual lifetime contract, renewable whenever convenient for the employee.

Flip’s passing and the arrival of the best cache of young talent in Wolves history, and perhaps the most authoritative coach in franchise history, converted the Wolves from the best version of their old self under Flip to the New Wolves Order.

Flip built relationships and sometimes avoided conflict. For him, Garnett could be the ideal partner — a superstar who was also taskmaster and intimidator.

Thibodeau likely wants his voice to be the loudest in every practice and huddle. He is the alpha male in the organization, and by nature of his personality needs little help yelling out defensive instructions or wielding power.

If Garnett is not going to become a part-owner or assistant general manager or loud voice at the end of the bench, he has no role in the New Wolves Order. He’s no longer even needed to sell tickets or lead marketing campaigns. That falls to Karl-Anthony Towns, a fast-rising star who is also as likeable and marketable as was the young Garnett, before he grew quills.

Channeled rage made Garnett great, and would make him an uncomfortable member of the NWO.

Now is the right time for Garnett to move on. The method by which that would happen is a matter for Taylor and Garnett. It would be best for the Wolves if Garnett simply retired, but let’s not go so far as to say that Garnett owes that to the Wolves. He carried the franchise for a decade, brought the Wolves their greatest success and had to be coaxed into accepting the trade to Boston.

Taylor (the owner of the Star Tribune, by the way) needs to do whatever it takes to buy out Garnett, to give Thibodeau a locker room where his voice will be the loudest.

If Garnett departs, the NBA and Minnesota sports will officially be changed places. The NBA could find Garnett, Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant in the same Hall of Fame class. Minnesota will have experienced the retirements of Torii Hunter, Jerry Kill and Garnett, and career-threatening injuries to Teddy Bridgewater and Adrian Peterson.

Garnett would retire as the only player in NBA history to reach at least 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 5,000 assists, 1,500 steals and 1,500 blocks. He may also be the rare NBA superstar to have punched multiple teammates during practices over the course of his career.

Perhaps Garnett could have written a sweeter ending to his career than a buyout, but old knees don’t understand story lines.

Garnett was great, and he should have played his entire career in Minnesota, and nothing guarantees a happy ending, not even when a superstar comes home.

***

No. 2:Bosh needs to concede and move on — After failing his physical with the Miami Heat reportedly due to blood-clot complications, Chris Bosh remains in limbo. He won’t report with the team for training camp and all along the Heat have kept themselves at arm’s distance regarding Bosh and his medical condition. Almost everyone, even former teammate Dwyane Wade, has dropped hints that maybe Bosh should seriously rethink his desire to play this season, or ever again. Meanwhile, Goran Dragic and Hassan Whiteside are looming as the core of a team that once featured Bosh, Wade and LeBron James. Here’s Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald with the latest …

The question, with camp opening Tuesday: Can their on-court chemistry continue to improve?

The off-court dynamics between the two were so off kilter at times last season that Erik Spoelstra, last February, ordered them to go to dinner or do absolutely whatever was necessary to improve their chemistry.

Their collaboration improved almost immediately after that, and it will never be more important than it this season, with the departure of Dwyane Wade, who had better synergy with Whiteside than anybody, and the loss of Bosh.

Whereas Wade assisted on 92 Whiteside baskets and 29 alley-oops, Dragic assisted on just 65 of Whiteside’s hoops and 14 of his alley-oops.

But 50 of Dragic’s 65 assists to Whiteside came in 28 games after the All-Star break, compared with just 15 in 54 games before.

One reason why: The two teammates started talking a lot more, both off the court and during games, and the results have been noticeable. Whiteside started setting better screens for Dragic, which helped free him offensively.

“It was great,” Whiteside said this offseason, via Heat.com. “Each game me and Goran got better. He’s easy to talk to. He’s a really good point guard. As the season went on, me and Goran understood each other better.

“[This] year is going to be even bigger. More of me and Goran communicating on that basketball level and getting to know each other better.”

Spoelstra said earlier this year that the key was they both “committed to working together, before practice, after practice. Two guys that want to do it right and they understand they’re involved in a lot of collaborations together and they have to spend time working on it.

“It’s not going to happen through osmosis. They both wanted to make it better. They just didn’t necessarily know how to make it better. Just spend time together and you’ll figure it out.”

Dragic said he never ended up going “alone with Hassan” to dinner, but they did spend more time together in groups with teammates, and it helped because “you discuss things. You get to know the guy better and where he comes from. He opened up to me and vice versa. You know what the guy is thinking now.”

Also helpful: Dragic said he and Whiteside practiced pick-and-rolls alone, after practice.

Though they’ve always gotten along, Dragic, from Slovenia, and Whiteside, from North Carolina, don’t necessarily have a lot in common.

“He likes to play video games; I don’t do that,” Dragic said. “I have a family [with kids]; he doesn’t. But we both love basketball.”

The upshot, Dragic said, is they now they mastered non-verbal signals, to the point where Whiteside can anticipate a Dragic alley-oop before the defense knows it’s coming.

“It was hard” to get to this point, Dragic said. But the improved communication “has helped us function.”

Said Whiteside: “I know it looks like sometimes we’re out there arguing or fussing. But every time I see something, I tell him. And it goes both ways.”

***

No. 3:Donovan sees himself with OKC for long haul — When the Thunder lost Kevin Durant to free agency, it created a rather weird reality for coach Billy Donovan. He came to the Thunder two summers ago fully realizing that he might have only one season coaching Kevin Durant and that the team’s identity (and title chances) could drastically change overnight if Durant left. Maybe Donovan would regret leaving a comfortable gig with the Florida Gators. Well, when the Thunder opened camp Friday, Donovan was fully committed to the present and the future. Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman spoke with Donovan about this…

The team that Donovan signed up for 17 months ago — a superstar-heavy, NBA-title-contending roster — has changed. Still talented. Still interesting. Still a winner. But not a title contender unless the basketball gods bestow upon us the sports story of the century.

Makes you wonder if Donovan laments coming to town. Makes you wonder if Donovan wonders what in the heck he’s gotten himself into.

This week, I asked Sam Presti how Donovan has responded to the different landscape. From knowing exactly what he had to not sure what he has. From NBA overdog to NBA underdog. From two superstars to one.

Presti said to ask Donovan. But then Presti told us what he thinks of the coach who leads the Thunder. “I think it is the same situation he signed on for, because the things that make a Billy Donovan a Billy Donovan is he wants to be the coach of the Thunder,” Presti said. “He wants to coach in Oklahoma City. He wants to coach with an organization that is committed to the values that I’ve covered … I think those are the things that drive a person like Billy Donovan. He wants to be a part of something. He wants to be a part of representing a city and the values of a city. And he wants to work his craft.”

Well, working his craft is not going to be a problem. To whatever extent Donovan was able to roll out the basketball and let Durant and Russell Westbrook perform their magic, that will happen no more. Donovan will be free to coach his butt off this season.

Truth is, Donovan did just that last season, when the Thunder traversed repeated valleys and emerged as a playoff force. No team played better in the 2016 playoffs than did Donovan’s Thunder. In the month of May, OKC went 7-6 against teams with 67 (Spurs) and 73 (Warriors) wins.

Donovan pushed all the right buttons, and the Thunder’s eventual fall had nothing to do with the quality of the coaching. Durant and Westbrook just famously locked up in the final five minutes of the Western Conference Finals’ Game 6.

The Thunder won’t get that close this season. Donovan won’t admit that, of course. He also talks like it’s OK if it is true.

Donovan said Clay Bennett and Presti made it clear that Durant’s return was no sure thing. Said he came to OKC not because of the dual superstars, but the values and culture that had been created.

“I believed in the vision of the organization,” Donovan said. “Those things resonated with me.”

You know the drill. All the things that Presti talks endlessly about. All the things that now will be put to the test in the post-Durant era. Hard work. Holistic approach to people. Trusting the process.

“Nothing’s really changed here,” Donovan said, words that will be tested on Oct. 25, when Durant dons a Warrior jersey for his first real game with Golden State. “The principles, the vision, those things haven’t changed. It’s not like the mission and the values have changed here.”

Donovan says he’s used to player departures. Nineteen years at Florida taught him to adjust. Players graduating. Players transferring. Players going pro early. Donovan went to Final Fours with virtual all-star teams and went to Final Fours with virtual no-name teams.

Truth is, Oklahoma City is a lot more accustomed to Durant than Donovan is to Durant. We had the tall drink of water for eight glorious seasons. Donovan coached him for one.

“When players leave, you gotta be aligned with the people that are in charge and the people you’re working with every single day,” Donovan said.

HANG TIME, N.J. — With training camp set to start on Monday, Chris Bosh will not be on the floor with the Miami Heat.

AP Source: Chris Bosh has failed his physical, is not cleared for training camp with Miami Heat.

A complication has arisen in medical tests involving Heat forward Chris Bosh, derailing his attempted comeback, according to a source.

The complication involved evidence of some continued clotting and is believed to be related to one of two previous blood clot episodes. Those episodes sidelined Bosh after the All-Star break each of the past two seasons.

Though the complication is not considered life-threatening if treated, it requires medication and playing with it is considered unrealistic.

….

The Heat had gone into this week expecting to clear Bosh to resume his career this season, according to multiple sources briefed on the situation. But his clearance by the Heat always was contingent on Bosh passing his physical and no issues surfacing during a battery of Heat-administered medical tests this week.

And when an issue arose in blood work this week, the Heat concluded he could not be cleared to return.

Dwyane Wade to AP on Bosh: "To me, the biggest thing is Chris has five kids and a wife and a family. … I told him focus on that first."

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes across the globe to weigh in on the most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

> Say you are Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. What is your plan for training camp now that Dwyane Wade is long gone and Chris Bosh’s status is, at best, up in the air?

Steve Aschburner, NBA.com: Make sure I try out every one of those 18 water slides at the Atlantis Bahamas resort where the Heat will hold training camp? OK, besides that, my plan would focus on sorting through the multiple options in the backcourt, helping Justise Winslow develop a more reliable and rangier jump shot and watching a now-paid Hassan Whiteside very closely for any signs of slippage or distraction. I also might want to turn whatever Plan B is into Plan A, as far as Chris Bosh is concerned. Two consecutive seasons got sideways due to his blood-clots health scares, and Miami needs that resolved one way or the other. It’s a much bigger on-court cloud than Dwyane Wade‘s departure, where the roster at least offers alternatives. Not so much with Bosh.

Shaun Powell, NBA.com: The first thing is to let go of yesterday.LeBron James and Wade aren’t walking through that door and maybe not Bosh either. Embrace change and begin to emphasize a new philosophy with a new core. The emphasis should be on developing Hassan Whiteside into a star, pump some air in Goran Dragic‘s confidence and stress defense. It’s a new era in Miami and there’s no sense ignoring it.

John Schuhmann, NBA.com: Play fast.Dwyane Wade is a Hall of Famer, but the pace he played at didn’t allow Goran Dragic to be his best with the Heat. Dragic wants to run and he’ll be able to do it more often playing more minutes alongside younger guys like Justise Winslow and Tyler Johnson (and Josh Richardson when he returns from his knee injury). Hopefully, Hassan Whiteside can stay engaged (and more disciplined) for longer stretches than he was last season and can, along with Winslow, keep the Heat in the top 10 defensively. More stops will create more chances to run. The Heat have ranked in the bottom eight in pace each of the last four seasons and it’s time for that to change.

Sekou Smith, NBA.com: If I am Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, the one thing I know I’m not going to do is bring up the names Dwyane Wade or LeBron James. No sense in torturing myself as a coach knowing those guys are playing elsewhere. And I have to plan to go to work in training camp without Chris Bosh. Until he is cleared for full activity, I have to plan accordingly. It’s all about the youth movement now. Hassan Whiteside, Justise Winslow, Tyler Johnson and Josh Richardson have to continue to develop. As a staff, we have to make sure Goran Dragic and Udonis Haslem lead the way for us and show everyone else what it is we expect from this team from a culture standpoint. We are starting from the ground up, rebuilding this program, so I know I’ve got perhaps the greatest challenge of my career ahead of me.

Ian Thomsen, NBA.com: Bosh is on the books for the next three seasons with a salary that eats up roughly one-fourth of Miami’s cap. If Bosh can play in most of the games at his typical All-Star level then they could be competing for the No. 2 seed in the East. But Spoelstra will have no control over that. Whether or not Bosh can contribute, the Heat are going to have to develop a go-to scorer on the perimeter. Every contender needs one, and Spoeltra must find one – which creates a huge opportunity for Goran Dragic.

Lang Whitaker, NBA.com’s All Ball blog: Sometimes desperation begets inspiration. Last year during the playoffs against the Toronto Raptors, after Hassan Whiteside went down, the Heat ended up trotting out a lineup featuring Justise Winslow at center, surrounded by a bunch of guards and small forwards. And they were fun to watch! They may not have had enough to beat the Raptors, but it was an interesting lineup with room to grow. So this year I’m guessing they return with Whiteside and then spread the floor with shooters and athletes. Obviously a lot is dependent on the health and return of Chris Bosh, but I’m not writing the Heat off just yet.

September 12, 2016 · 9:01 AM ET

NEWS OF THE MORNING

No. 1:Report: Optimism growing that Bosh will play in 2016-17 — The Miami Heat and star forward Chris Bosh seem to have the same goal in mind — him playing in the 2016-17 season. However, enacting a plan both sides agree on to reach that goal hasn’t always gone well. Bosh missed the last half of the 2015-16 season with a heart condition and still needs clearance from the team to play again. According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Bosh and the Heat may be getting close to that approval status:

There is growing optimism about Chris Bosh being cleared by the Heat to resume his career while remaining on blood thinners, according to a union source.

Bosh pitched the Heat on playing late last season, while taking a new form of blood thinner that would be out of his system in eight hours or so. The Heat resisted that approach at that time but is now more open than it had been to Bosh playing while on blood thinners, according to the source.

Bosh wouldn’t be the first athlete to do that: Former Florida Panthers player Tomas Fleischmann takes anticoagulant injections after games that are out of his system by game time.

Whether Bosh would be able to play in every game, such as the second set of back-to-backs, remains to be seen.

But barring a setback in the next few weeks, it would be surprising if Bosh isn’t cleared to play.

September 6, 2016 · 7:50 AM ET

NEWS OF THE MORNING

No. 1:Curry: ’74 isn’t really a goal’ — The Golden State Warriors are fresh off a record-setting, 73-win regular season and run to The Finals. After adding former MVP Kevin Durant in the offseason to a group already stocked with All-Stars Klay Thompson and Draymond Green and two-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry, the Warriors will get everyone’s best shot in 2016-17. To Curry, surpassing last season’s win total is hardly a goal for these Warriors as they look to atone for their 2016 Finals flub. He said as much in an interview during his Tour of Asia, which Warriors.com was on hand for:

“I think we’ve added some great character guys that will fit right into our identity and who we are as a team. And there’s only one goal this year which is obviously to win a championship so whatever it takes to make that happen, I’m sure we’ll figure it out.

“74 (wins) isn’t really a goal. If it happens, it happens. All of our energy will be spent on getting ourselves ready for a championship run. We want to have a great regular season obviously, we don’t want to have any slip-ups, but I don’t think coming into the season with the goal of 74 is a good focus. It’s about winning a championship.”

September 3, 2016 · 9:31 AM ET

NEWS OF THE MORNING

No. 1:Chris Bosh situation far from settled — As the NBA creeps closer to the start of training camp, perhaps the biggest mystery lies with the status of ChrisBosh. The 11-time All-Star forward and the last remaining member of the Big Three era last played right before the All-Star break last season, then sat with an illness linked to the blood clots that hampered him the season before. Bosh has played 44 and 53 games the last two seasons but he and the organization expect him to be in uniform this season. But is it that simple? Ethan Skolnick of CBS Sports takes a wide-angle view of Bosh and life in a new stage for him and the Heat:

It’s been one of the NBA oddities of the past couple of years, an organization that has done so much winning over the past couple of decades, and now keeps finding itself in no-win battles. The Heat really can’t afford the optics of another bad breakup, not while maintaining its reputation as one of sports’ model organizations.

Yet here it is again, even if its intentions are nothing but noble, concerned only about protecting Bosh’s health — essentially protecting him from himself, considering the medical consensus about the dangers of him playing on blood thinners.

Yet some close to Bosh are not convinced that the Heat’s motivations are quite so pure. They suspect that the franchise is more concerned about clearing Bosh’s salary from the cap, which it can do exactly one year after he last played (on February 9, 2016) provided that he doesn’t play more than nine additional games. That would give Riley more room to reload with fresh, younger talent next summer, to make at least one last title run before he — now 71 — retires.

What does Bosh think?

Well, it’s hard to explicitly know, other than that he desperately wants to play, and that it’s not about money, since he will receive the $76 million he’s still owed regardless. He wants to play so badly that he has crossed the country to find a doctor to clear him; according to the Miami Herald, one doctor has proposed him taking blood thinners in the morning and getting off them at night, but the Heat are not comfortable with that arrangement.

Bosh hasn’t spoken on any of that. Not on his treatment. Not on his frustration. Not on any reports.

He has communicated infrequently and cryptically about his situation since February, in Toronto, where he abruptly withdrew from the All-Star Game due to another calf strain. Bosh downplayed the apparent setback then, saying that “I just wanted to make sure I was taking the necessary precautions and being a good professional,” but the details ultimately emerged — he had suffered another blood clot. This came after his first blood clot ended his 2014-15 season.

Long one of the NBA’s most accessible players, Bosh has said nothing definitive about his condition in the months since, entirely avoiding media members with whom he has interacted for years, staring down at a book in the locker room while a Heat official stands guard. And the Heat haven’t offered much more detail, as the organization attempts to avoid violating his privacy and creating another controversy.

Even so, it’s been obvious since the spring that the sides have not been aligned.

Not with Bosh releasing a statement in March through a publicist rather than the team (and the team refusing to comment on it). Not with Adrienne posting #BringBackBosh on her Twitter account and Bosh associates wearing those T-shirts to playoff games.

Not even after the sides came to an uneasy truce in May, releasing a joint statement that he would not be playing in the remainder of the playoffs and that they were “working together” so they could “return Chris to playing basketball as soon as possible.”

Not even after Micky Arison, the Heat’s managing general partner, mentioned Bosh as one of the Heat’s core players in a post on the team’s official website, and then tweeted “Looking good CB @chrisbosh look forward to seeing in camp” in response to Bosh’s recent video posts.

***

No. 2:Kobe almost traded for Grant Hill? — It’s always interesting when we get a sneak peek at the inner-workings of the NBA and teams and trade discussions, even when the facts and stories surface many years later, and especially when they involve big names. But Kobe Bryant and Grant Hill? For each other? Phil Jackson admitted the talks took place 17 years ago, just before the Lakers went on their Shaq-Kobe dynasty. Suppose Hill stayed healthy; would he be a solid mesh with Shaq? Here’s the dish, from Ian Begley of ESPN.com:

That trade — a deal that would’ve changed the course of recent NBA history — was never close to consummation, according to Jackson.

It came about because Bryant wasn’t happy with the idea of coming off of the bench early in the 1999-2000 season — Jackson’s first with the Lakers — and requested a trade.

“For a few minutes, I thought about taking the Pistons up on an offer they made to trade Kobe for Grant Hill. Make that a few seconds,” Jackson told his friend, Charley Rosen, in an interview published Friday for Today’s Fastbreak.

Bryant, of course, would develop into one of the top players of all time, winning five titles along the way. Hill, who is nearly six years older than Bryant, had shown, at that point, the promise to be one of the top players of his era. But debilitating injuries derailed his career. Had it gone through, the Bryant-Hill trade would have altered Jackson’s legacy and the history of the NBA. But Jackson said the Lakers never seriously considered the offer.

“The thing was that Kobe already saw himself as being one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA. I thought that, in time, he would indeed reach that goal.

“Anyway, he was not going to be traded,” Jackson said in the Today’s Fastbreak piece, in which he also mixed up the chronology of his run with the Lakers. “So we’d talk about being patient, and letting the game come to him. But Kobe would sometimes still go off on his own, disregarding the offense and trying to single-handedly take over the game. When I called him on this, he’d say that for us to keep on winning, there was a lot for him to do.”

This was just one example of the not-always-rosy relationship between Bryant and Jackson. Jackson has detailed many of his run-ins with Kobe in his books, and he gives an overview of his relationship with the recently retired Lakers star in the Today’s Fastbreak piece. Jackson and Bryant developed a mutual respect and admiration for one another as time passed.

“I’ll miss him, and the game will miss him,” Jackson said.

***

No. 3:Meet the godfather of the salary cap — Most NBA fans wouldn’t know recognize the name Larry Coon and would be stunned to know how much respect and importance he carries within league circles. Well, he’s the Einstein of the league’s salary cap and is often consulted by league personnel and media when clarification is needed regarding the fine print. He’s aware of the rules, restraints and whatnot of the league’s collective bargaining agreement with its players and nothing stumps him. Dan Woike of the Orange County Register recently wrote a profile of the man who knows his way around the lingo:

A middle-aged man who’s more likely to buy a pocket protector than come off a screen-and-roll and throw a pocket pass, one who says he has no desire to even pick up a basketball, has become one of the most knowledgeable people in the NBA.

His hair has grayed, his shoulders tend to slouch, and this day in Vegas, he looks like any one of the thousand convention-goers in town, corporate polo and khakis included.

If Coon looks more the part of office-dweller than NBA revolutionary, there’s a reason for it.

He spends his days in the information technology offices at UC Irvine, managing major projects and evangelizing business analytics.

But over the course of more than 15 years, he’s used his nights to become an indispensable part of the NBA fabric, operating the go-to reference used by teams, players, agents and reporters.

When it comes to understanding the rules that get your favorite players to and from your favorite teams, Coon is the person people turn to.

THE RIDE

After his office hours, Coon and one of his protégés load up in Coon’s silver Mazda and head over to the UNLV campus, which is hosting the Sports Business Classroom in addition to the NBA’s Summer League.

Coon starts to recount his journey, always staying on script, trying not to deviate from the linear order of events. He knows how he wants to explain things.

It’s his area of expertise.

His “CBA FAQ” has become a staple in web browsers around the league, breaking down the 154,274-word collective bargaining agreement – approximately the same length as “The Grapes of Wrath” – that lays out the financial rules for the NBA into more palatable terms.

Before Golden State general manager Bob Myers won the 2015 Executive of the Year award and built a team that won a single-season record 73 games and signed the biggest free agent available in Kevin Durant, he was merely a law student with a thirst for NBA knowledge.

To quench it, he tried to study the CBA.

“Anyone who knows and has tried to do it, it’s very dense,” Myers said. “Larry was the first person to break it down into layman’s terms, into ways that were succinct, efficient.

“It was like the CliffsNotes version of the CBA.”

People trying to find work in the NBA’s front offices now had the companion to a document that could make even the trained eye crust over. The phrase “in accordance” appears 259 times in the 2011 CBA; “notwithstanding” is there 128 times.

Neither appears in Coon’s FAQ.

“You can’t learn the cap by studying the collective bargaining agreement,” Portland General Manager Neil Olshey said. “Larry did that FAQ that had all the questions, and what Larry did better than anybody is he made it digestible for people who didn’t have that high-end mathematics background. That’s why I was able to use it.”

Coon’s trip to NBA celebrity began in a place so many Southern California basketball fans have been – watching the Lakers and listening to Chick Hearn.

But instead of being inspired to shoot jump shots, Coon’s love of basketball drifted to the mechanical side.

How, he wondered, were teams able to get certain players and not others. What could they pay them? Were there limits? What were the loopholes? And who are the people smart enough to exploit them.

Coon’s an obsessive, and he sought the answers with the same voracity that led his cycling habit to become, at one time, a 500-mile-a-week routine.

With Chris Bosh going on the offensive this week, the message to the Heat is clear: Getting salary cap relief for Bosh’s contract, if he isn’t cleared to play, is going to be a mighty contentious struggle.

We’re told the Bosh camp remains frustrated with the Heat’s handling of his situation, and that’s part of the reason Bosh and wife Adrienne have gone on a social media blitz this week. As one NBA official said, Bosh wants the public to know he wants to play amid the Heat’s silence.

The Heat has declined to say if Bosh will be cleared – Bosh has been awaiting word himself – but the team disputes any notion that it is trying to keep him off the court to remove his salary from the cap.

And here’s the problem: Though the Heat can apply to remove Bosh’s future salaries ($25.3 million in 2017-18, $26.8 million in 2018-19) from its cap as early as Feb. 9 (a full calendar year since his last game), the odds are against Miami being granted that relief if Bosh fights this.

The reason: To clear Bosh off the cap, the labor agreement says “a doctor that is jointly selected by the league and players association” must agree his condition “is career-ending, or severe enough to put him at risk if he continues playing.”

Bosh disputes any notion that he cannot play and –– barring another blood clot –– he, in tandem with the players association, likely will oppose use of any doctors who say he cannot play and presumably will try to find a doctor who will say he can. And the process might not even get to that point.

Bosh previously found one doctor who told him about taking a new blood thinner that would be out of his system in eight to 10 hours – an idea the Heat rejected in April but an approach that has again been discussed this summer.

Incidentally, the Heat faces a Wednesday deadline to use a stretch provision on Bosh that would allow Miami to cut him and spread his $76 million remaining in cap hits over seven years. But it’s unlikely the Heat will do that.

On Tuesday, Bosh tweeted a picture of himself and Dwyane Wade after a workout. And Bosh’s wife said this week that Bosh will play this season.

The reason Bosh’s situation is so complicated: There are differences of opinion in the medical community about whether someone who has had two clotting episodes in 12 months (but like Bosh, doesn’t have the gene making him pre-disposed to clots) should remain on thinners, and whether an NBA player – more susceptible than non-athletes to leg trauma – should take the new blood-thinning medication that’s out of the system in eight hours.